1. Field
The present application relates generally to data storage devices; more specifically, this application relates to creating and/or managing meta-data for data storage devices using a packet switch appliance.
2. Related Art
In a packet-switching network, the transmission, routing, forwarding, and the like of messages between the terminals in the packet-switching network are broken into one or more packets. Typically, data packets transmitted or routed through the packet-switching network comprise three elements: a header, a payload, and a trailer. The header may comprise several identifiers such as source and destination terminal addresses, virtual local area network (VLAN) tag, packet size, packet protocol, and the like. The payload is the core data for delivery, other than header or trailer, which is being transmitted. The trailer typically identifies the end of the packet and may comprise error checking information. Data packets may conform to a number of packet formats such as IEEE 802.1D or 802.1Q.
Associated with each terminal in the packet-switching network is a unique terminal address. Each of the packets of a message has a source terminal address, a destination terminal address, and a payload, which contains at least a portion of the message. The source terminal address is the terminal address of the source terminal of the packet. The destination terminal address is the terminal address of the destination terminal of the packet. Further, each of the packets of a message may take different paths to the destination terminal, depending on the availability of communication channels, and may arrive at different times. The complete message is reassembled from the packets of the message at the destination terminal. One skilled in the art commonly refers to the source terminal address and the destination terminal address as the source address and the destination address, respectively.
A typical packet-switching network employs a packet switch appliance to forward packets within the network to their respective destination terminals. A packet switch appliance may also be employed as part of a network monitoring system of a packet-switching network. The typical packet-switching appliance may include a number of ports. A given port may be configured as a network port for connection to the packet-switching network. Alternatively, a port may be configured as an instrument port for connection to one or more network instruments such as packet sniffers, intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems, forensic recorders, or data storage devices.
Packet traffic in a packet-switching network, or portions thereof, may be stored for later forensic analysis or use. However, a typical packet, with its format of header, payload, and trailer designed for bandwidth efficiency provides limited network information beyond the source and destination address of a given packet. Methods and systems that may provide additional information on packet traffic in a packet-switching network may provide useful information for later retrieval or use.